The Southeastern Architectural Archive (SEAA) recently finalized the processing of the Louisiana Landmarks Society Records and Collection. The Louisiana Landmarks Society (LLS) is the oldest preservation organization in the state, dating to 1949. Founding members included Martha G. Robinson, Samuel Wilson, Jr., Buford Pickens, Angela Gregory and Bernard Lemann.
LLS established its articles of incorporation April 21, 1953. The non-profit organization thereby formalized its primary aims, the first of which was to focus attention on Louisiana’s historic buildings. Secondary aims included the acquisition and preservation of historic landmarks and documents; the dissemination of information about the state’s architectural traditions; and cooperation with other persons and organizations with similar objectives.
Image above: 200 Baronne Street. [Feiblemen's Store AKA Sears, Roebuck and Company; Moise Goldstein, architect]. Circa November 1931. Louisiana Landmarks Society Records and Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.
The New York Times has begun a series of articles -- based on a six-month investigation -- exploring the operations of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. The evaluating body consists of 11 commissioners, whose composition must include at least three architects, one historian, one city planner or landscape architect, one real estate agent and one resident of each of the five boroughs. The Chairman, Robert B. Tierney, holds ultimate authority over the process. The commission does not document the resolution of each nomination, nor does it develop statistics related to how many nominations it rejects or defers. To read Robin Pogrebin's first piece, click here.
In New Orleans, many Mid-City residents are lamenting a recent decision to appropriate a sizable portion of the neighborhood for a new VA-LSU medical corridor. The Department of Veterans Affairs announced yesterday that the area bounded by South Galvez Street, Tulane Avenue, South Rocheblave Street and Canal Street would be the site of the new VA Medical Center. The State of Louisiana announced that the area bounded by South Galvez Street, Tulane Avenue, South Claiborne Avenue and Canal Street would be the site of the new LSU Academic Medical Center.
In response to the announcements, activist Karen Gadbois, writing on her Squandered Heritageblog, addressed the related FEMA Section 106 process and contrasted it with her experience in Mexico. Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, commented:
"In selecting these sites, the VA and LSU have made a serious error. They chose alternatives that will not only be the most time-consuming, costly, and complex, to implement, but will needlessly destroy a historic neighborhood where residents are struggling to rebuild their community in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. . . We strongly urge the VA and LSU to reconsider, and take a look at other less harmful alternatives."
George Riehl, Rendering of Weiss Dreyfous Seiferth Design for Charity Hospital, as photographed by F.A. McDaniels of New Orleans, n.d. Weiss, Dreyfous Seiferth Collection (Gift of George Riehl), Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.
The Foundation for Historical Louisiana, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Louisiana Landmarks Society have identified Charity Hospital as an endangered building.
As reported in two August posts, the Foundation for Historical Louisiana as charged by House Concurrent Resolution 89 of the 2006 Legislative Session, commissioned an extensive analysis of the viability of Charity Hospital to provide 21st-century medical care to the region. International architectural firm RMJM Hillier conducted the feasibility study and reported its fervent belief that Weiss Dreyfous and Seiferth's Charity Hospital could be renovated more quickly and more economically than a new LSU/VA Medical campus could be constructed on the Regional Planning Commission (RPC) site.
Where is the RPC site? It is an extensive 71-acre area of Mid-City New Orleans -- bounded by South Claiborne and Rocheblave, and Canal Street and Tulane Avenue -- and includes 250 homes and small businesses. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Preservation Resource Center have put together a flickr set of affected properties. To see them, click here. The site includes important modernist buildings SOM's Pan-American Life Insurance (1951) and Charles Colbert's Olivetti Showroom (1966). Where buildings are concerned, people are concerned: The story of the Mid-City homeowners reminds me of the historic Wimawalas reported earlier this year.
The New Orleans Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the New Orleans Committee to Reopen Charity Hospital, Louisiana ACORN, United Teachers of New Orleans, and C/3 Hands Off Iberville are sponsoring A Call to Action on Friday, November 21st at 12:30 pm in front of City Hall, at Perdido Street and Loyola Avenue.
John Eberson, architect. Walter Smalling, photographer. Tampa Theatre, Hillsborough County, Florida. n.d. Historic American Buildings Survey.
Since 1988, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has accepted nominations for "America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places," utilizing the designation to raise public awareness regarding threats to the nation's cultural heritage. Do you have a place that you would like to nominate? If so, contact the Southern regional office of the National Trust for a consultation about the appropriateness of your proposed nomination:
Southern Office
(Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, South Carolina, Virgin Islands) 456 King Street, 3rd Floor Charleston, SC 29403 Tel: 843-722-8552 E-mail: soro@nthp.org
For more information about nomination criteria, click here. Nominations for the 2009 list are due by Friday, December 5, 2008.
The Tampa Theatre, shown above, was once endangered. Designed by Romanian-born theatre architect John Eberson prior to the Great Crash, the theatre opened to the public in 1926. Although it enjoyed decades of great popularity, by the 1960s the structure was under threat. In 1973, Tampa citizens rallied to save the landmark and subsidized a $2 million restoration. Today the theatre hosts over 600 events a year, including performances that showcase its historic Wurlitzer Organ. Last year for Halloween, legendary organist Rosa Rio performed her original score to accompany F. W. Murnau's German expressionist film Nosferatu (1922). She was carried to the stage in a coffin, and revealed to the audience her true age, 105. In a 2006 interview, Rosa conveyed, "I can't explain it. . . when I'm on stage [at the Tampa Theatre], I'm like a kid again." Sadly, this year she is not performing after over sixty years on the keyboards.
It is worth noting that Rosa played both the Strand and Saenger Theatres in New Orleans. She met a young Ginger Rogers while playing at the newly opened Saenger (1927), and when the Mississippi flooded its banks that same year, Rosa and others lifted up the theatre's organ to save it from the rising waters. She and her companions lived for two days in the Saenger and used its curtains for bedding. To read more, click here. The Southeastern Architectural Archive retains architect Emile Weil's drawings for the Saenger Theatre, 143 N. Rampart/1111 Canal Street, 1925-1927. The structure has been closed since Hurricane Katrina. Weil also designed the Pensacola, Florida Saenger Theatre, which opened in 1925 and has been undergoing renovations since this spring.
Rosa Rio Tampa Theatre Performance, 2005. Youtube. Viewed 31 October 2008.
Nope, the man in the photograph is not preparing for a new tropical storm of the sort you may be imagining.
Today's New York Times features a video produced by Joshua Brustein, Ángel Franco and Dan Barry about Ft. Myers, Florida's attempts to deal with an increasing number of abandoned properties.
"Come to Fort Myers, population 60,000, the seat of Lee County. Walk the Gulf Coast beaches. Cruise the Caloosahatchee River. Witness what happens when banks dole out easy mortgages and homeowners forget that the money isn’t free. Drive down McGregor Boulevard, or Cleveland Avenue, turn left or turn right, and see the empty houses, the overgrown lots, the signs saying AUCTION and FREE RENT."
In New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin's recent suspension of the city's Neighborhood Conservation District Committee (NCDC) demolition review process resulted in at least one tragic loss. To read more from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, click here.
[Photograph: Detail of Ángel Franco work for the NY Times 09.22.2008].
The New Orleans Public Schools (NOPS) have publicized their Master Plan for Orleans Parish, that includes draconian measures to rejuvenate the metropolitan school system. Their reconfiguration is based on extensive information-gathering: building assessments and standards, educational program requirements, and population projections. All of their studies are available as downloads, though the process requires a considerable amount of patience.
In 2000, the National Trust for Historic Preservation designated the nation's historic neighborhood schools as notably endangered places. The trust followed with a grant-funded publication written by Constance E. Beaumont and Elizabeth G. Pianca, titled Why Johnny Can't Walk to School: Historic Neighborhood Schools in the Age of Sprawl. Among many other issues, Beaumont and Pianca addressed the deferred maintenance problems that have certainly been the bane of Orleans Parish schools.
When New Orleans architects E.A. Christy and Charles Colbert designed and supervised school projects for Orleans Parish, they did so with utopian sensibilities about the role of education in an urban society. Over the course of time, accelerated by neglect, their buildings decayed. Tulane School of Architecture Visual Resources Curator Francine Stock has spent considerable time researching and chronicling many of these historic schools, and some of her work may be found on her regional modernism blog and related flickr archive.
The National Trust's recommendation for such properties is in stark contrast to the parish master plan:
"[The Trust] advocates for the continued use of older and historic neighborhood schools as an anchor for healthy communities. We seek not only to reaffirm the contribution made by historic neighborhood schools to their communities, but also to provide policy direction for state policy makers and for community preservation advocates who help shape state policies."
It additionally offers resources for those communities interested in "Smart Growth Schools," sustainability, continuity, and renovation. Click here to learn more and read about communities that have succeeded in their school preservation efforts.
Update: On 6 November 2008, the Orleans Parish School Board voted 6-1 toadopt the $2 billion Master Plan.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation launched an initiative to celebrate and protect distinctive places as part of its "This Place Matters" Program for Preservation Month, May 2008:
"The This Place Matters campaign is designed to help people share the place that matters to them, wherever these places happen to be."
If you haven't read University of Wisconsin Geography Professor Emeritus Yi-Fu Tuan's Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perceptions, Attitudes and Values (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1974) [TSA LIBRARY GF41.T82] or his Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1977) [HTML G 71.5 .T8 1977], I would highly recommend them!
If you've never heard of Yi-Fu, click here for a sense of his impact.
